It’s worse in an ECV. They don’t have brakes!!! Please don’t look at me (well my husband) and see me approaching and think “I’m not going to wait 2 seconds for you to go past, I’m just going to dash in front of you saying sorry”. You can’t brake and you can’t swerve because there are approximately 37 people within 2 inches of you, many of them small children, and if an ECV hits you it hurts!!
DH won’t go back again, it took me a long time to persuade him to use an ECV, he said he would be able to walk when he can’t walk more than a few steps at home because he was worried people would look at him and think he was being lazy as he looks young fit and healthy. And it was so stressful!!
We have formations. In fact we tell the kids to get in formation when are in a busy area. Dad leads, and Mom takes up the rear. Little ones will hold either Dad or Mom’s hand. We get through busy crowds much more efficiently this way than with a stroller.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m not judgmental about it. Honestly, when I’m in the parks, I don’t really even pay attention. Strollers are just a way of life in the parks, and I certainly am not paying attention to what ages I think kids are in strollers.
But, I also know from experience that we were MUCH happier when we ditched the stroller altogether, and we found that by the time our kids were 4, there was really no need for the stroller. So, I push the idea of eliminating strollers because I think parents (1) don’t realize the freedom it brings, and (2) underestimate the abilities of their kids!
So this. My mom needed to use one last year. I would walk in front of her to try to clear the path and the amount of people who jumped in the space I cleared was disgusting. I was nervous the entire trip. So much so that this year, when I had a badly sprained big toe (and pneumonia I didn’t know about until I got home), I had to break down and get some sort of help getting through the parks but I just couldn’t bring myself to use the ECV. DH pushed me in a wheelchair. Between the comments about being lazy and not really needing a wheelchair and the fear of someone running in front of me, I couldn’t bring myself to do it.
My sister was 3 or 4 on our first trip. We got a stroller towards the end of the day because we were not on property and were there open to close (youth group trip my dad was leading). She was fine until about 4pm.
Heck, I pulled a muscle in my hip a week before a church family trip when I was going into 7th grade and I didn’t even get to get a wheelchair rented for me. I limped along - though we did slow the pace a little bit.
Of course, we were much more mobile then anyway - outside recess at school, playing outside after school and on weekends, riding bikes around the neighborhood, etc. We did not have video games and computers and stuff to keep us inside and sedentary - so I am sure that helped with not getting as tired as easily when walking in the parks.
I am a commando.
I will not go at a 4-year old’s speed.
My now almost 9 year old is 38 lbs and still in a booster. Her now 18 year old brother was in a booster til he was 12!
Yeah - at $500/day for tickets I’m so not walking at their speed.
And, yes, we tried it once. In 2007 our children were one, three, five, and seven. All we had was our double sit and stand when we arrived at Animal Kingdom on our first day.
Within the first hour I was hightailing it back to stroller services and renting a second stroller.
It’s not that my kids don’t have stamina. They don’t have speed.
As stated above, it’s not that my kids don’t have the stamina. They don’t have speed. I also don’t want the 4-year-old to stop and start looking at topiaries while the rest of us want to get on an attraction.
We all have different ways that we calculate return on investment. We will enhance to return on our investment by having the children in strollers.
There is much truth in this. If as a family lifestyle choice, one walks for pleasure, as a matter of routine, then the amount of walking at WDW is not going to be quite so daunting or challengeing. It is a pity that the parks don’t have the pushchair equivalent of ‘Boris Bikes’. Santander Cycles - Transport for London
I don’t know why this made me laugh, it makes me think you’re going into battle or something.
Kids, get in formation, we are outnumbered and getting dangerously low on Mickey Bars! We have to make Space Mountain by nightfall or we won’t stand a chance of getting a good spot for HEA!
It’s a scam, kind of like restaurants that offer free kids meals. Oh, come to Disney World, your kids under 3 get in free, it will be so affordable! Then, BOOM! They get you signed up for a Dining Plan and some club level FPP.
We’ve been doing it for years, now. Everyone just knows what to do. We use it at amusement parks and zoos and anywhere it is crowded. It allows a single-file line to weave through the crowds while maintaining one person to navigate (me, in front) and one person to keep eyes on everyone (my wife, from the rear).
However, I do have to warn anyone who chooses to use this technique if you take on the role of leader. On occasion, the person in the rear (aka, the wife) will decide there is something worth stopping for unexpectedly. And, being singularly focused on destination, I become oblivious to the fact that my wife and the kids are back 100 yds at some shop looking at a cool T-shirt that would look great on DD or something. When I smugly arrive at the destination, unscathed, I turn around to make sure everyone has kept up, and lo and behold…I’m all alone! I then have to backtrack until I find them again.
Not that such things ever happen or anything, you know. Just a hypothetical.
Yeah. We just also did not feel the need to go top speed. That increased as we got older. But my parents got that when you have kids, you cannot go like you did when you didn’t have them.
